Many drivers have been able to win their home race, or at the very least stand on the podium in front of their home crowd. Lewis Hamilton at Silverstone, Fernando Alonso in Spain, Max Verstappen in the Netherlands. France, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Germany, Canada and even the US have all been able to watch their hometown heroes stand on the podium. But that pleasure has never been granted to the Aussies.
Australia is somewhat strange in this regard, because they have not only produced several race winning drivers, they even had two world champions in Formula 1. Alan Jones won the world championship in 1980, and the legendary Jack Brabham won the championship three times: in 1959, 1960 and 1966. But since the Australian Grand Prix didn’t get added to the F1 calendar until 1985, neither one of them had the chance to win in front of their home crowd. In fact, Jones did participate in the Australian Grand Prix twice, but retired from the race both times. And even though various talented Australians have come through the ranks since then, none have been able to secure a podium in their home race.
And yet Australian drivers have graced the F1 podium in Australia. Twice.
Daniel Ricciardo, 2014
The 2014 Australian Grand Prix was the first race of the season, and a special moment for the home crowd. After two decent enough seasons at Toro Rosso, Daniel Ricciardo got promoted to the main team at Red Bull Racing. He would replace outgoing Aussie Mark Webber, who had grown tired of the politics involved in F1 and retired from the sport at the end of the 2013 season. It was a good promotion for Ricciardo, since Red Bull had just won the last four consecutive championships.
The race itself was fairly unremarkable. Three cars crashed immediately at the start, Lewis Hamilton’s V6 engine spontaneously became a V5, reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel retired on lap three, and debutant Kevin Magnussen finished on the podium in his very first race. Fairly standard stuff.
Hm, a reigning Red Bull champion retiring on lap three and Lewis Hamilton stopping due to engine problems in the Australian Grand Prix, leading to a McLaren driver on the podium. That feels somehow familiar.
The race was won by Nico Rosberg. Where was Ricciardo in all of this? Well, he finished in second place. He couldn’t have had a better debut for Red Bull. In doing so, he became the first Australian to stand on that Australian podium since the race was added in 1985. It was a dream come true, and that was more than visible during his celebrations on the podium.
But it wasn’t meant to be. Shortly after the podium ceremony, the FIA found that Red Bull had used illegal methods to regulate the fuel flow. As such, Ricciardo was disqualified from the race. His disqualification promoted Jenson Button to third, in what would ultimately be his final podium in Formula 1. It wouldn't be the last time Ricciardo stood on the podium, but he never achieved one in Australia.
Mark Webber, 2002
The 2002 Australian Grand Prix was a mix of past and future F1 heroes looking to make their mark in this opening race. Ferrari had the dream team of Rubens Barrichello and reigning four time world champion Michael Schumacher. A young Kimi Raikkonen paired David Coulthard at McLaren. Indy 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya drove for Williams alongside Ralf Schumacher. Eddie Irvine, Felipe Massa, Jenson Button, Pedro de la Rosa, they all showed up at the starting line. And lining up in 18th, in a Minardi, was debutant Mark Webber.
Webber knew from the start that there was no way he’d get a good result. Minardi was about as fast as your average toddler on a tricycle. Pensioners in golf carts would drive faster than the Minardi’s. And given that back then points were only given to the top 6, it meant that Webber would need something to go wrong for almost everyone else in order to get any hope of scoring points.
Well, that’s exactly what he got. A massive crash in the first corner immediately took out Barrichello and Ralf Schumacher. Six other drivers, including Massa and Button, were caught up in the mayhem as well, resulting in eight drivers already being eliminated before a single lap was done. Jarno Trulli got overly acquainted with the walls in lap 8, Takuma Sato lost all electricity in his car in lap 12, and both Arrows cars were disqualified for tactics so blatantly illegal you’d almost consider it a challenge to the FIA to see how badly they could possibly punish a single team.
Ralf Schumacher's crash sent him flying in the first corner.
All this meant that by lap 30, after Jacques Villeneuve decided to see what his car would look like without a rear wing, Mark Webber was driving in 6th place. In the front, an epic battle for the lead was being fought between Schumacher, Raikkonen and Montoya. Coulthard’s gearbox had quit the race early, giving Webber yet another free spot. Webber meanwhile wasn’t having a great time either, having already lost one of his gears and feeling his traction control getting worse by the minute. Mika Salo got close enough to make the team lose all hope, but Webber held out for just long enough to cross the line in 5th position. It gave his team a precious two points. So precious in fact, that it would be the only points they got all season, and it was enough to keep Minardi ahead of Toyota and Arrows in the championship.
Team owner Paul Stoddard was over the moon. The roars of the crowd were deafening. It seemed like the city of Melbourne was being hit with an earthquake. Nothing else in the final results mattered, because the hometown hero had just scored points in his first race. Even the track owners were loving it, because they convinced Stoddard and Webber to join the top three on the podium. The FIA was less enamored, giving the team a £50.000 fine. But nobody cared. Webber stood on the podium that day as the first Australian F1 driver to do so in Australia. Even though he didn’t even finish in the top 3.
